Less than a week before travelling to Paris for his first Olympic Games, British showjumper Joe Stockdale landed his first Agria Royal International Horse Show (RIHS) showjumping five-star success with a dominant performance on speedy gelding Equine Rescue Services Kandleford.
Drawn 19th of the mammoth field of 81 starters for Thursday’s opener, the Royal International Vase, Joe and the 14-year-old Kannan gelding cruised to the top of the leader board with what proved an unassailable target to pocket the €3,300 top prize.
“I had a plan going in today that I didn’t want to do anything too silly and radical and I thought if I get a nice top eight placing, I’d be chuffed to bits with him,” said Joe. “The track actually jumped a bit more difficult than it walked, so it was nice to get a clear in early. Kandleford is always up with the pace – he travels well across the ground and it worked out well today.
“I actually went away because I didn’t think I would be winning that class. There are some riders here who are really quick coming after me. But luckily a fence fell or they didn’t quite get there so I’m really pleased with Kandleford.
“There’s nowhere else in the world with such a special ring where you can jump these sort of fences. There’s always a great crowd and a great feel, so it’s really special to get my first win here.”
Equine Rescue Services Kandleford was bred by Olympic showjumping legend David Broome and is by the hugely successful showjumping sire Kannan out of Pythagoras mare Perdy and Joe took the reins on the now 14-year-old gelding five years ago.
“He’s quite an individual character, you have to take the rule book and throw it out the window with him and ride him in his own sort of way,” revealed Joe. “But he loves to leave the fences up and he really enjoys it when he can run and jump.
“He’s quite a quick horse, he’s been on great form this year, we started out in Spain and won a good class at the five-star in Fontainebleau, so he’s been on good form leading up to here.
“Last year I had other horses jumping and he had quite a busy summer, quite a busy start to the year, so he had a quieter time and it was nice to let him go out in the field and have a bit of down time and reset for this year and he’s come back really nice.
“He loves a big open ring where he can really stretch his legs and get a good pace going so I’m chuffed to bits with him.”
Joe and Kandleford topped this competitive speed class some two seconds quicker than Matt Sampson and King Lepantino, with William Whitaker third on Active Spirit and Nicole Lockhead Anderson completed the British top four on Chatondo.
Joe has been picked as Great Britain’s alternate rider with top mare Cacharel for the upcoming Paris Olympics and the Agria-sponsored rider was delighted to be supporting the Royal International Horse Show before heading to Versailles.
“It’s fantastic that Agria are able to sponsor the Nations Cup here because it would be such a shame to lose that – it’s important we keep the Nations Cup going,” said Joe.
The Agria Nations Cup of Great Britain takes place on Friday 26 July where defending champions Great Britain have been drawn first of the eight teams in action.
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